Showdown at Climate Talks

Obama Jets to Denmark, U.S. Backs $100 Billion Annual Aid to Clinch Carbon Deal
By STEPHEN POWER, GUY CHAZAN, ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON and JEFFREY BALL
COPENHAGEN -- The Obama administration launched an eleventh-hour attempt to pull off a deal from the stalled United Nations climate talks here, offering to get behind efforts to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor nations as President Barack Obama headed for the Danish capital.
Secretary of State Clinton tries to break the impasse at the Copenhagen climate summit by offering $100 billion a year for a decade to developing nations. Jeffrey Ball reports on how the offer was received in Copenhagen.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and leaders of major players at the summit -- from Europe to Asia to Africa to Latin America to the Maldives -- emerged from a meeting at about 3 a.m. local time Friday, saying they would discuss a new draft agreement later in the morning, on the two-week conference's final day. "We're not there yet," said Denmark's prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen. He said the late-night discussion had been "very fruitful."
But Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh described the meeting differently, saying it had been "stage-managed" by European officials "to show they consulted everybody."
The White House tried to lower expectations Thursday. White House officials said they don't anticipate any new offers by the president, since the targets and financing figure have already been announced. But depending on the status of negotiations Friday, that could change. On Friday afternoon Mr. Obama has one-on-one meetings with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The White House left open the possibility Mr. Obama would choose to come back to Washington with no deal.
"Coming back with an empty agreement would be far worse than coming back empty-handed," said Robert Gibbs, Mr. Obama's press secretary.

President Obama played a big card Thursday, authorizing Mrs. Clinton to tentatively endorse European proposals that rich nations come up with $100 billion a year over the next decade to help poor nations fight climate change. The decision -- which surprised European officials who said they hadn't been flagged -- was made after the conference hit an impasse Wednesday.
All day Wednesday, U.S., European Union and Australian negotiators talked with representatives from the Group of 77 developing nations, floating aid figures that might satisfy those countries' demand for greater, longer-term financing for efforts to curb or cope with climate change.
Previously, the U.S. had stuck to a $10 billion annual figure by 2012, and declined to specify what it thought would be a longer-term financial target. The U.K. had long advocated for $100 billion by 2020, while other European nations wanted more.
Mrs. Clinton said in her speech Thursday that the money would be aimed at the "poorest and most vulnerable among us" -- a phrase that excludes fast-rising China, which many in the West think shouldn't receive aid. She said the money would come from "a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance."
"The private sector is going to be the engine that drives all of this," an administration official said. "A lot of this is not aid in the traditional sense of aid."
CO2 by Country
Any source of U.S. public funding remains in the hands of Congress, where lawmakers have stalled action on a climate bill and are focused on cutting the swelling budget deficit and funding jobs in the U.S.
House Democrats, some of whom traveled to Copenhagen Thursday, hailed the administration's announcement.
"The United States must take responsibility for our historical emissions, while also seizing the opportunity that will come with re-engaging with the developing world on emissions-cutting clean-energy technologies and other programs," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D., Mass.).
In a sign of the difficulties the administration may face, however, congressional Republican leaders Thursday said they would introduce a "disapproval resolution" blocking efforts to fund the U.S. financing offer, and scuttling the administration's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants.

"The administration wants to give billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars we don't have to other countries," said House Republican leader John Boehner. "This does nothing to get the American people back to work, nothing to get our fiscal house back in order, and nothing but add to our debt."
Ed Miliband, the British climate minister, cautioned that reaching a substantive deal was still a "race against the clock." Mr. Obama and others were expected to face contentious issues Friday -- such as how aggressively their nations will cut greenhouse-gas emissions -- while negotiators continue to finesse the text, he said.
Mrs. Clinton's announcement is the latest move by U.S. officials to counter accusations from developing nations that the U.S. hasn't done enough to break the climate-talk deadlock. President Obama was scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen Friday morning to meet with other world leaders and join a climate agreement -- if there is one.
Mrs. Clinton said the U.S. wouldn't commit to the plan if all major economies don't commit to key provisions, including carbon-emission controls that are transparent.

"If there isn't a commitment for transparency of some sort, that would be a deal breaker," she said.
He Yafei, China's vice minister of foreign affairs, said Thursday that China is ready for international cooperation that is "not intrusive, that does not infringe on China's sovereignty."
He also said China's target for reducing the amount of carbon it emits per unit of economic output shouldn't be subject to international monitoring.
There were some signs of movement on the issue of how rich countries can check the compliance of nations such as China. "We have 75% agreement on the verification issue," India's Environment Minister Mr. Ramesh told reporters. He said India had come up with a four-point formula on the issue.

Secretary of State Clinton tries to break the impasse at the Copenhagen climate summit by offering $100 billion a year for a decade to developing nations. Jeffrey Ball reports on how the offer was received in Copenhagen.
Tension between the U.S. and China has dominated the Copenhagen summit, as the two largest greenhouse-gas emitters jockeyed to win support from developing nations.
The U.S. anticipated the Chinese could organize allies and countries economically dependent on China into a bloc to resist U.S. efforts to leverage a deal, particularly on monitoring promises to cut emissions.
Mrs. Clinton's statement Thursday appeared to sway some African delegates. But other G77 delegates gave it a cool reception.
Lumumba di-Aping, a Sudanese diplomat who is the group's chief negotiator, said the offer would need to be studied. "This is a good signal, but it's still insufficient," he said. "We need more money."—Selina Williams and Jing Yang contributed to this article.
Write to Stephen Power at stephen.power@wsj.com, Guy Chazan at guy.chazan@wsj.com, Elizabeth Williamson at elizabeth.williamson@wsj.com and Jeffrey Ball at jeffrey.ball@wsj.com